England have had two weeks to analyse what went wrong in the defeat by Ireland but most fans could have told them in five minutes as their third successive dire start probably put paid to their Six Nations title hopes for another year.
England began the campaign raring to go on a sizzling night in Cardiff but the coaches had hardly settled in their seats by the time Wales had opened a 10-0 lead after a Rhys Webb try.
England fought back superbly to win 21-16 but were just as slow out of the blocks against Italy when their defence parted to gift Sergio Parisse a try after three minutes.
Again, it did not prove important as England dominated to win 47-17 but when they travelled to Dublin and repeated their sleepy start, there was no way back.
The concern was not just the fact that they handed Jonathan Sexton two penalties in the first eight minutes, but they hardly touched the ball and when they did they usually gave it straight back.
By the time they got a foothold in the game, Ireland had a cushion and went on to triumph 19-9 to put themselves in pole position for the title.
It must be infuriating for the coaching team to see England’s players giving away needless penalties minutes after a final briefing.
So, unsurprisingly, it has been an area receiving a lot of attention ahead of today’s Twickenham clash with Scotland.
“We have been doing a lot on the starts, we’ve talked a lot about it and practised that area very hard,” backs coach Andy Farrell told reporters yesterday.
“There are all kind of things that happen at the start – it could be discipline, a lack of accuracy, falling off tackles etc and they all need to be right.”
While England are expected to extend their 32-year Twickenham unbeaten run against the Scots, they cannot afford to give away soft points if they have any hope of overhauling Ireland on points difference should the Irish lose one of their remaining two games against Wales and Scotland.
Playing today: 15.30 Wales vs Ireland. 18.00 England vs Scotland.
Tomorrow: 16.00 Italy vs France.
Standings: Ireland (3-3-0) 6; England (2-0-1) 4; Wales (2-0-1) 4; France (1-0-2) 2; Italy (1-0-2) 2; Scotland (0-0-3) 0.